Projects

GIPSI

GIADA

Rosetta

ROSETTA is an European Space Agency space mission that, after a trek of 10 years across the Solar System, in 2014 will reach short period comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and follow it during its approach to the Sun to
characterize the comet’s evolution. ROSETTA will study the physical and chemical properties of the nucleus, the evolution of the coma during the comet’s approach to the Sun, and the development of the interaction region of the solar wind and the comet, for more than one year until it reaches perihelion.

GIADA is an insitu instrument devoted to measure the dynamical properties of the dust grains emitted by the comet. The three subsystems composing the instrument are capable of measuring mass, speed of single dust grains and the dust mass flux. In preparation of the operative phase of the mission crucial activities have been foreseen in order to be prepared to the challenging environment of the comet.

The GIADA instrument consists of three measurement subsystems: the GDS (Grain Detection System) an optical device measuring the optical cross-section for individual grains), the IS (Impact Sensor) an aluminum plate with connected 5 piezosensors detecting the momentum of the dust grains impacting the plate and MBS (Micro Balance System) constituted by 5 QCM (Quartz Micro Balances).

GIADA Works

GIPSI tool

GIADA instruments Performance SImulator (GIPSI) is a tool developed by GIADA's team able to simulate performances of instrument onboard the Rosetta spacecraft. The main goal of GIPSI is to predict the impact of coma dust environment on instruments and evaluate the instruments behavior in an operative scenario.